Tucker in Korea

Seoul Public Transportation

2010-05-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

Seoul has the best public transportation of any city I've ever visited. Its trains, subway, and buses are all clean, fast, and go everywhere. This is the station nearest my apartment. Despite being cleaner than any station in New York City its relatively drab by Seoul standards.

One of the greatest things about subway platforms in Seoul is that many of them have small convenience stores on them. Great to grab a drink or paper while waiting for the train.

The subway cars are new, and larger than cars I'm used to back in the US. Many of them are also color coded. This is a car on the #4/blue line, so the floor is correspondingly blue. Like subways in any city people spend their time reading/listening to music/people watching. Unlike most subways though the Seoul system has wireless TV signals running throughout and great cell coverage.

Me playing doodle jump, lucky to have a seat in a relatively empty car.

A Seoul bus, not many seats and maniac drivers, but a great alternative to taking the subway.

Mt. Seorakson

2010-05-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

Brian playing air guitar on our pension's trampoline. We went for the Christmas holiday and were the only people staying out our small bed/breakfast type place. Lots of open space, and Mt. Seorakson not too far off.

Our personal BBQ, on which we grilled big Costco-bought Christmas steaks. Yum.

Not Mt. Seorkason, but another peak next door. We had 2 hours to kill while we waited for our gondola ticket time so we ambled around snapping pictures.

Mountains in Korea often play host to Buddhist temples and statues. In the foreground is a beautiful lotus shaped incense burner. There is a small sanctuary inside/under the statue. We went inside to pay respects and get out of the cold for a minute.

The walls of a beautiful, if austere, monastery near the large Buddha statue. At the end of the turquoise beams you can see a shape which I had previously always associated with Nazi Germany. I've since learned that it was a Buddhist symbol long before Hitler usurped it.

A beautiful stone carved spring. The small pool is fed by the three big turtles at the top of the picture.

My Korean friends didn't do a great job of explaining what this was. It was covered in Chinese, as opposed to Korean characters, and had something to do with an ancestral memorial.

The moon rising up above Mt. Seorakson. We caught one of the last cable cars up to the peak. A ten minute hike beyond brought us to the actual summit, where we horsed around until it go truly dark.

People like ourselves who were there for the view and to say they'd visited the peak, not to hike.

School Field Trip

2010-03-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

At the end of last semester my head teacher and I took our 25 best students on a trip to the local bowling alley and then to an early dinner. Most of the kids had never bowled before, or been on a field trip with two Americans (neither of whom can bowl particularly well). It was a pretty hilarious afternoon. Cheers and cell phone pictures after one of our better students avoided the gutters.

Getting the 6th grade girls excited about bowling wasn't impossible. Getting most of them to play with the boys was.

Becky offering guidance of a sort.

Eventually we lost the girls' attention to their cell phones, most of which get live TV.

A big BBQ dinner afterward. It was a lot of fun to let these young kids work the grills, jobs we were sure their parents usually handled (not unjustifiably).

Mt. Dobong

2010-03-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

Mt. Dobong is one of Korea's largest and most visited mountains. It sits just north of Seoul within the suburban Gyeonggi-do provence. Its an odd mix of rugged beauty and suburban convenience. The Seoul Metro brings you near several trail heads, around which have sprouted dozens of outdoor gear stores, and enough restaurants to feed hikers coming and going. This beautiful Buddhist temple was an hours hike from the mountain's base. It was a serene and inspiring place.

Rows of Buddhas in place at the entrance to the temple's grounds.

A smiley dog that lives at the temple. After the fashion-accessory dogs of Seoul it was heartwarming to scratch this smelly bundle of fur.

A cluster of fermenting pots, most likely holding aging bean curd, or maybe spicy cabbage. Kimchi, the Korean national dish, is made from a fermented mix of the latter.

The intricately painted eaves of the main temple building. Hard to see here but a beautiful fish wind chime hangs at the building's corner.

A snowy view of the surrounding mountains.

Admiring our footwork at hike's end. Also debating exactly where we got lost.

A big lunch of smoked duck and various Korean side dishes (ponchon) was our first stop after hiking. The next was the largest indoor sauna in Seoul, where we soaked, steamed, and rested the remainder of the day away.

Seoul Lantern Festival

2010-03-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

The Seoul Lantern Festival is a stunning event held along the Cheonggyecheon stream that flows through Seoul (one of my favorite spots in the city - lots of pictures of it posted last year). The glowing lanterns, which are more like floats, dot the stream for at least a mile. The first one is an inexact reproduction of one of the gates of ancient Seoul.

All the bridges that cross the stream were used to display signs or lanterns like this one.

A line of lanterns depicting great structures of the world, with Big Ben, the leaning tower of Pisa, and a Giza pyramid pictured in the foreground.

A beautiful latticework covered with lanterns in every color. We gave up waiting for a picture inside and settled for this one. Koreans' ubiquitous camera phones makes competition for photo ops anywhere in the city stiff.

Some fashion show running in conjunction with the lantern festival had these poor models walking around in leather bodysuits. It was at least 8 PM when I took this shot, and near freezing. They were making a valiant effort to look cool.

Changdeokgung

2010-03-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

An incredibly old tree. I want to say 5,000 years but it was near the end of a very long and chilly tour.

A "secret" royal garden in the middle of the palace. There are three large palace compounds right in the center of Seoul. This one (Changdeokgung) has the most open space. The pond pictured here is located in a small dell which totally isolates you from the city. A quarter mile away bustles a city of 25 million.

Some beautiful fall foliage.

I took A LOT of leave shots. Not as many trees in Seoul as I'm used to.

What I've come to know as a typical throne hall. It appears to be a two story structure from the outside but its actually a single, tall-ceilinged room. The small stones sunk into the paving (the ones casting shadows left to right) are markers that showed everyone where they were supposed to stand during various ceremonies, in case you temporarily forgot your worth in the feudal hierarchy.

The DMZ

2010-01-25T07:24:00.001-08:00

The DMZ is a 4 km wide strip that bisects the Korean Peninsula. This building, a couple yards from the actual start of the DMZ, was the closest I got to North Korea during the tour. The Korean soldiers present instructed us not to take any pictures beyond the yellow line. Despite taking this picture facing away from the DMZ I was still given a warning look.

The back of the building, which serves as a kind of lookout post and educational center.

A hazy shot into North Korea. The tall structure just above the binoculars is a huge flag poll constructed by the North to showcase one of the world's biggest flags (so large that it must be taken down in the rain because it cannot support its weight when wet). The buildings in the foreground are part of an unoccupied model village constructed to impress the South. It was a bleak sight.

All throughout the day-long tour we were shown symbolic monuments dedicated to peace and reunification. Some of them were interesting and meaningful. After a while the large number of them reminded us of the the intractability of the problem. From then on they were more awkward to view than anything. This plaque sat in front of a glass case that contained rocks from history's greatest battlefields. 86 battlefields in 64 different countries.

This locomotive is a relatively new addition to the DMZ tour. It was heading south with military supplies when the Korean war broke out. The whole train was blown to bits but the conductor was somehow able to escape. The man, now in his 80s or 90s, was there when the locomotive was rescued from a restricted area near the DMZ and brought here.

Avalon Staff and Students

2010-01-25T07:07:00.000-08:00

The entire staff (Korean teachers, foreign teachers, TA's, front office staff) at the start of our winter semester. We're standing in the foyer of our main floor.

Four of our brightest students playing games before class. I could keep up but it wasn't easy.

The ever present peace sign. Not sure Korean kids can take pictures without them.

350 Climate Action Event @ Han River

2010-01-25T06:25:00.000-08:00

The Han River is such a geographically significant part of Seoul, and something that I reference so often in everyday speech, that I couldn't help jumping down a couple boulders to stick my finger in it.

A wedding "boat" that hosts after wedding dinner parties, and possibly the actual ceremony as well. Hard to see but swan boats are swarming around the back....like slightly confused swan babies circling mom.

The reason for the trip to the Han was to take part in a day of global climate action put together by 350.org. My group of friends and I were the only foreigners there and had a great time, shaking hands and talking climate action with dozens of enthusiastic Korean college students.

The girl in the white american flag sweatshirt is the president of a large college environmental organization called UNEP Angel. She was idealistic and inspiring.

Me with a group of students. A couple spoke great English, and were disappointed that I didn't speak more Korean.

The penguin, a mascot for the group, ran around this huge flee market where the event was being held...giving out free hugs and getting people to write encouraging sticky notes about the need for environmental action.

If you assumed the girlfriend wasn't doing much peddling here, you were right.

Chuseok in Boseong

2009-12-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

For Chuseok (Korean "thanksgiving") a group of friends traveled to the green tea growing region in the Korean peninsula's southwest corner. Above is a picture of the perfectly manicured green tea terraces. Had no idea that tea plants are essentially plain bushes.

A tomb located amongst the tea plants.

Friends walking up into the terraced rows of tea.

Dragonflies were everywhere. Caught this guy sunning himself.

Looking into the canopy of a stand of bamboo the tea plantation keeps for wedding photo ops.

We stayed a "pension". Kind of like a bed and breakfast. Had a big room with lots of pillows/blankets/mats and a basic kitchen. At night we cooked in half drum barbeques and enjoyed some soju in the tent roofed building in the foreground.

The pension from below, Becky and Justin stand in front of our first floor room.

A cadre of old guys playing a dice game and drinking on the station platform as we waited for our train.

Sejongno - Heart of Seoul

2009-12-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

Sejongno is my favorite street in Seoul. It runs from City Hall Plaza north to Gyeongbok Palace. It was completely remodeled recently and now has several beautiful public spaces. The picture above is a water feature that runs the length of the street's middle plaza.

The US embassy (an ugly '70s era building) is located on the street. I took the above picture on the day of Ted Kennedy's funeral in Boston. The stars and stripes fly at half mast accordingly.

A manicured flower garden occupies much of the street's center plaza.

Kids playing in the "headwaters" of the plaza's water feature.

Myself and friend Marshall in front of Admiral Yi, one of two statues that dominate the plaza.

Kids playing in the rapidly changing fountain jets.

....with dads capturing all the fun for posterity.

Seoul City Hall

2009-12-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

A view of the temporary facade that has been erected at the front of the new City Hall, at the heart of Seoul as far as I'm concerned.

The facade is like a giant Seurat painting made out of plastic discs. Ambiguous up close but join together to create the scenes visible in the first picture. The scenes has already been changed at least once since I've been here.

Poking....couldn't help myself.

Looking up from the base.

A Christian service/concert/event set up on the lawn at night. The production value was pretty incredible.

Mt. Namsan - Seoul Tower

2009-11-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

N. Seoul Tower is the tallest object in Seoul - measuring 777 feet from the peak of Mt. Namsan - and it offers panoramic views of Seoul as far as the eye can see. There are several ways of getting to the tower, we took the gondola.

Waiting patiently for said gondola. Marshall (left) is sporting his newly purchased Harry Potter glasses. The lightening bolt had been washed off by this point.

Riding up towards the peak, and Seoul Tower, with the second gondola car about to pass.

The Tower is also home to the Seoul Teddy Bear Museum (still unsure why). These two suffered endless photo opps the whole time we were there. This was the least mean of our shots.

My friends Marshall, Kevin, and myself up in the tower. The windows all have the names and distances of the global capitals they face. We let Kevin join our picture despite being from LA. Go Giants.

Also, Kobe Bryant hangs out here a lot. Apparently he's into teddy bears.

The tower is a huge romantic destination for couples. They buy locks of all sizes from vendors at the tower's base and then bolt them to the fences that surround the tower, after writing romantic messages all over them (see below). This picture is actually of a metal tree they've planted for the purpose, with a lock covered fence in the background.

Not sure if the couples come and cut them off after breaking up. Did not see any bolt cutters for sale.

After dusk laser shows light up the tower and the grounds that surround its base. It looked pretty good in blue.

...but a lot better in red, white, and blue.

Korea VS. Australia

2009-11-10T09:02:00.000-08:00

My friend Kevin and me in front of Seoul World Cup Stadium....built to host the 2002 World Cup along with Japan.

The most frenzied fans congregate here at one end of the field. They constitute the official Korean football fanclub.....named the Red Devils. The weren't so much mean as ceaseless.

The view from our great seats....8 rows back.

More play. Korea beat the Australians easily.

The halftime entertainment. You don't see many Korean men with flowing blonde hair. His juggling skills were even more entertaining.

Cheonggyecheon Stream

2009-10-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

A stream that had run through Seoul for millennia, Cheonggyecheon had been covered up by highways during the decades of enormous growth the city experienced in the last fifty years. Several years ago an urban revitalization project uncovered the stream, creating one of the coolest urban features I've ever seen. The nearly six mile long stream winds its way through the heart of Seoul. Complete with fish, aquatic plantings, and the refreshed feet of thousands of Seoulites.

The headwaters of the stream, a couple yards from the main boulevard that runs through Seoul.

One of several musicians playing along the banks of the stream.

Mom and daughter crossing from one side to another.

Brothers taking a dip in matching shirts.

A small waterfall just beyond the headwaters (see behind). The stream incorporates sculptures and the beauty of water flowing over imbedded lights, carved stone, and natural stream bed.

A view of the stream after sunset, from one of many bridges that crosses above it. The stream is only accessible every quarter mile or so, lending it a sense of isolation in a city of millions.

My friends Marshall, Robin, and Kevin braving the chilly water. Perfect after a long day exploring Seoul.

Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul - Laser Light Show

2009-10-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

Weekend nights sections of the stream fill with mist, into which a laser show (set to music) is projected.

Joseon Tombs in Seoul

2009-10-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

A mossy-backed statue watching over the tomb of a Joseon King.

The tomb itself, set atop a hill in central Seoul, surrounded by symbolically arranged statues. Notice the Seoul Ramada in the background.

Marshall feeding a 1,500 year old sheep.

This ram, and the big cat behind him, face away from the tomb in order to protect it for all eternity.

Fire extinguishers in the middle of the forest.

Seoul Olympic Park

2009-10-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

The beautiful Olympic archway that is the centerpiece of the former Olympic grounds.

The park now plays host to myriad families and their preferred outdoor pursuits every weekend. The young kids in roller blades were by far the most fun to watch.

These four are practicing their speed skating maneuvers in front of their equally serious coach.

Said coach, wearing skates twice the length of her feet.

My good friends Becky and Marshall (and my chin) onboard the Olympic Park tram. Made us all feel a little lazy.....taking a tram to see olympic venues where athletes had performed amazing feats.

Becky giving thumbs up to an enormous thumb sculpture. Very original Becky.

Notice big sister's perfect technique.

Clutching the olympic torch with my BARE HANDS.

Dr. Fish

2009-09-13T05:48:00.001-07:00

Some coffee shops in Korea have "Dr. Fish" outposts in them....tanks of hungry fish that are supposed to eat all the dead skin off your feel, but which really just tickle the hell out of you until you're about to jump out the window.

A close up of a particularly hungry guy. I'm dunking just my heels because I couldn't handle the nibbling up my shins.

Swarming....

My good friend Becky trying her hardest to leave her legs submerged.

The knees/legs of myself, Becky, and Marshall. For a couple bucks you get 15 minutes in the tank. I probably had my legs in for 4 minutes cumulatively, in 30 second increments.

Another Farewell

2009-09-13T05:35:00.000-07:00

Outside our favorite bar Fongs on a warm August night.

Myself and the head teachers assistant from school. He knows almost no English but we always have a fun time.

My friend HJ, who was leaving for grad school in the US, giving a teary speech to everyone gathered to see her off.

Me before trying my first and last chickens foot.

Some foreign and Korean teachers enjoying soju and beer. In the foreground is the back of my friend Peter's head, who was also leaving the following week.

Through the Looking Glass

2009-09-13T05:24:00.000-07:00

My extended family at a lake house in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania, video skyping with me here in Korea. My young cousins were particularly interested who this talking head on the computer screen was.

Talking to my 92 year old grandfather via skype was also a trip.

My dad and sister video skyping with me from our house in Sonoma.

Korean National Museum

2009-09-13T05:09:00.000-07:00

An ancient Korean pagoda, anchoring one end of the museums light filled main gallery.

No explanation necessary....

I can only imagine the sounds that would come out of these two.

The Korean National Museum is a huge structure, one of the largest museums in all of Asia. It houses mostly Korean artifacts but also has impressive collections from other Asian countries, notably China. At the time of my visit the museum was hosting an Egypt exhibit and they had pasted giant stickers on the face of each step, creating the cool image above. The picture is of course invisible to the people sitting on the steps.

Something akin to a crown made for the Korean royalty a thousand plus years ago. The picture does not do its ornateness justice.

East Sea III

2009-09-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

The majority of the young Korean women we saw at the beech walked around in high heels, bikinis, with lots of make up on. I spent most of the day trying to get pictures of them without being too obvious. Sadly I didn't get any of them actually walking on the beech, with their heels sinking into the sand at every step.

A environmental show was being tapped at the beach. We got a picture with the mascot.

My friends Tom and Laura with the very tan Korean lifeguard.

My friends Justin, Laura, and HJ "posing" so that I could get a picture of the women in purple, wearing the green high heels, at the beach.

Very chipper women's changing booths were spread out all over the beach.

Dancing Liquor

2009-08-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

They're dancing to one of the more popular K-pop songs....a classic that everyone in the country has probably heard 150 times, willingly or otherwise.

East Sea II

2009-08-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

A big Korean soju (Korean rice liquor) company put on a little festival at the beach. Including carnival games where the prize was a bottle of soju or a fancy cooler pack. These dancing bottles and their friends the merry bears were the main attraction.

A pillbox left over from the Korean war. The beach we went to on the East Coast was relatively close to the border and the area had experienced several episodes of North Korean espionage.

Two Korean women strapped inside a metal ball seconds before being slingshotted into the air. I wish you could hear the screams that came 7 seconds later.

A guy jumping from the local bungee tower after being egged on by his friends and the crowd below for ten minutes. I despised the guy after holding my camera on him for all those minutes, waiting for him to actually jump.

The tower and the crowd of onlookers below.

The East Sea

2009-08-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

The crew, minus me, as we checked in at out beachside hotel. The Asian man in the middle came and fetched us from the bus terminal. He told us about all the pretty Asian women in bikinis we'd see, despite the presence of our three female friends.

Tom, Justin, and HJ laying out under our umbrella. Flashing the requisite peace sign. Apparently Justin is an anarchist.

Justin and I before our dash to the water. It was cold.

Umbrellas as far as the eye can see. Its a full service set up. An old Korean man tends to your umbrella, taking away your trash when it piles up. Restauranteurs come by with menus of food that they'll deliver to you at your umbrella, via ATVs. We returned at night to drink soju and fire off batteries of roman candles.

Of all the cute Asian kids around this girl was probably the cutest. The Hello Kitty poncho towel helped out her case tremendously.

Insadong, Seoul

2009-08-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

11,074 km to New York.....

Insadong is an artsy neighborhood in the heart of Seoul. This large gold buddha is in one of the largest Buddhist temples in Seoul. Its hard to see but the man sitting just below the pedestal is a monk reading out prayers to all the worshippers inside.

One of the cooler looking/weirder buildings in Seoul.

A three-story coffee shop that looked cool lit up at night. There isn't a lot of brick architecture here, good to come across it whenever I do.
The royal banquet hall on the grounds of the Korean Royal Palace. One of the neater buildings to see there, and one of the dozen that wasn't destroyed by the Japanese during their decades long occupation of Korea.

August Sun

2009-08-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

Me showing off one of my parents' birthday gifts (the CA Republic shirt). I tell my students about how the CA state flag was actually designed in my hometown but it doesn't tend to be a crowd pleaser.

Laying out with friends on the grounds of the art college across the street from my apartment (the closest green grass around). The college is back in session and all of sudden the small street I live on is crowded with moody looking art students.

One of the few pictures of me catching, as opposed to dropping, the frisbee.

Thomas and Heather Going Away Party

2009-07-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

We threw a big going away party for great friends, Heather and Thomas, who were leaving Korea after about 15 months of teaching. They were headed on a months-long tour of Southeast Asia. We took over our favorite local bar and they played cook and hostess for the night. Thomas made everyone amazing cheeseburgers (once at 10 PM and then again about 7 hours later). Thomas on the right, Hyo Joo (the owner of the bar along with her husband) on the left.

Heather and Liz (best friends who came to Korea together). Liz is leaving herself this coming Saturday. Sadly Thomas isn't around to make cheeseburgers.

Liz, Nate (a fellow teacher), and Heather.

Celebrating.

Heather and Liz having one of a dozen heartfelt moments.

My campus is big enough, with 15 teachers, that there is always someone coming and going. Its exciting having new people to get to know all the time, but also sad to see good friends go. All the new teachers have to listen through way too many stories of funny things done by teachers long since gone.

Korean War Memorial/Museum

2009-07-20T21:13:00.001-07:00

My good friend Liz checking out the stats on a tank.

A South Korean fan boat (with angry shark teeth decals) in hot pursuit of some communist water lilies.

90% of the people at the museum were groups of kids out on group trips....Korean boy/girl scouts, red cross youth, to name a couple. I think these kids in the yellow hats were red cross youth.

Pretty sure these guys are Korean boy scouts. They all had way too much in their backpacks.

Far and away the most popular attraction at the museum. Its tough to see but those kids at the end of the conveyor belt are goings nuts trying to get as many little plastic balls up into that big green box as possible.

I spent a Saturday afternoon recently at the Korean War Museum/Memorial with my good friends Liz and Heather. Its an impressive place and covers not just the Korean war, but also all the other wars Korea has been involved with in the past fifty years, including the Vietnam and the Gulf. There is also a huge section dedicated to all the little skirmishes the South has had with the North since the end of the war. I'd been curious to learn about them from the North Korean perspective. I think there might be some differences.

Ambushing Korean Ball Players

2009-07-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

Korean baseball players aren't used to fans wanting to talk to/take pictures with them. While we were waiting for some stragglers to get to the stadium a group of friends and I happened to be outside the gate nearest the team bus. We cheered at all the players we saw. I think they were confused, though happy, to have a group of 10 foreigners yelling at them like they were bonds.

This guys might have just been confused.

My friend Marshall was especially stoked to be rubbing elbows with these guys, who all play for the SK Wyverns. SK is one of the biggest cell phone companies in Korea. All the Korean baseball teams are owned by the biggest companies in the country, including the Lotte Giants and the LG Twins.

This guy is the team's most famous player, an amazing new pitcher. My students freaked out on Monday when I showed them the picture.

The farm team.

Neighborhood Brunch

2009-07-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

Cooking things on a glorified hotplate isn't always easy but lucky for everyone bacon and pancakes are hard to screw up.

After going five months without eating a breakfast that my father would approve of I went to Costco and bought plenty of bacon and some maple syrup. I invited all my friends living in the building and we had a calorie-heavy home-cooked American breakfast. In true Costco fashion I now have 3 more packages of bacon frozen in preparation for next time.

Last Day of the Semester - Student Pics

2009-06-15T06:34:00.001-07:00

My favorite class of the semester...not sure what the guy to the right of me is up too.

One of my best students attempt at a portrait. Much better than I could ever do.

One of my other good classes. John is pretty excited about that bucket full of candy.

Three students in my friend Liz's favorite class.

Not sure if he did that to himself or had it done to him. He looks pretty good either way.

I'd been meaning to take pictures of my students since the first day of class and finally had a good excuse to do so the final day of the semester. Some highlights here, though none can convey some of the hilarious things that come out of their mouths.

Student Phone Calls

2009-06-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

Twice a semester we call each of our student for a one on one phone conversation. We have to ask them some questions based on the recent reading units. Much more interesting are the questions we get to make up. My favorite thing to ask is what they want to be when they grow up. I get plenty of predictable responses but plenty of unexpected dreams too. I had a particularly quiet student who said she wanted to be a rock star. I looked at her a little differently the rest of the semester.

Work - Avalon Office

2009-06-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

My desk at work. On top of that big tube behind my name is a hat the guys who own the place I get my hair cut gave me. It says "force" in Korean. The kind Luke Skywalker has in abundance.

The room where the nearly 30 teachers at my campus work (half Korean, half foreign). It's a fun/noisy place to be.

My good friend Pete arriving at work in a newly purchased t.

Five of our foreign teachers on their last day. For all such occasions, including birthdays and weddings, we gather in our lobby for soda, pastries, and ice cream cake.

Waiting for the celebrated to blow out the candles so we can eat.

Some pictures of work life. We were just made to switch desks last week, in order to get to know more of our fellow Korean teachers, instead of sitting next to the same neighbors all the time. Its a good idea but always an insane day. 30 people trying to move into someone else's desk while that person waits for their new desk to be unoccupied. A lot like musical chairs, but musical chairs while holding 30 books and a pencil case in your arms.

Staff Dinner

2009-06-14T19:39:00.001-07:00

The director of my school, Sophie, and my good friend Liz. And one of our TA's trying to get out of the frame.

Most of our elementary school staff out to dinner recently, celebrating the end of the semester.

The four young guys who work as Teaching Assistants at our campus. All great guys who keep our school running on a day to day basis.

My school does a great job of celebrating events. For the end of semester dinner we took over half a restaurant and ate family style. Its always fun to see the people you work with outside the office, though it can be tough to make small talk with your boss for an hour. Sadly I didn't stay long enough to watch the TA's start in on the soju.

Fongs

2009-05-24T09:26:00.001-07:00

My friends Thomas and Marshall, and the guy who cuts Marshall's hair. Not sure I would have visited him the next day.

Pyun Sung, the owner of Fongs (favorite local bar), who went with us on the DeokJeokDo trip pictured in the previous post.

His wife Hyo Joo and my friends Heather and Liz. The fact that we don't speak more than a dozen words of the other's language doesn't seem to matter much.

My friend Peter and about half of the other teachers I work with on a recent Friday night at Fongs.

Liz, Marshall, and the owners of the local hair place.

A great Japanese style bar, called Fongs, opened up in town about six weeks ago. The owners are a young married couple who both love art and traveling. My friends and I go about once a week and are becoming great friends with them both. The husband is a chef and has started asking about our favorite foods so he can add them to the menu. Spaghetti bolognese is the most recent addition.

DeokJeokDo Island

2009-05-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

My attempt at trying to catch a seagull in the act of grabbing cheetos out of the hand of an 8 year old. I think she understood what I was doing but that didn't seem to alleviate her confusion about who the westerner taking pictures of her forearm was.

Most of my friends, and the rest of the boat, trying to catch up on sleep missed the night before.

My good friend Liz and the dog she hoped was a stray, named Ralph, and tried to take back to Seoul with us (it was not a stray).

My friends Liz, Thomas, HJ, and Jake after playing some frisbee on the very foggy beach.

Heading back to Seoul after an exhausting 36 hours.

My first trip out of Seoul was to a small island off the western coast of South Korea, called DeokJeokDo. Sadly we were rained on almost the entire time, which meant we spent a little more time drinking soju under umbrellas than we would have otherwise. We found a hotel room big enough for the ten of us.....really just a big room with tons of blankets and a heated floor. We ate well, got in a great hike to the island's peak during a lull in the rain, and joined a big nighttime bonfire on the beach. The best part about the trip was the company of our favorite bar owners, who closed up shop and came with us for the weekend. They brought the drinks, we paid for everything else.

Badminton

2009-05-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

I brought my squash racket with me to Korea hoping to play but have long since abandoned it for the fierce sport of badminton. There are three courts close to my apartment and my friends and I usually play every week. A few weeks ago one of my students came out to play before school. He was more interested in hanging out with his teachers outside of class than playing. I often tell my students how good I'm getting......they rarely seem impressed. They're more curious about my favorite Korean pop stars, and not my new red Power Blade 3.0. Trust me, its awesome.

Ponies

2009-05-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

Our view of the track from the foreigners box (where the programs are printed in English).

After all the races are over people pour out of the park and walk straight into restaurants that have been set up on the curb. Folding tables, stools, gas stoves. It didn't seem to matter if people had lost or won big....they felt like some seafood stew and plenty of soju.

Truck bed seating....the epitome of sidewalk fine dinning.

Some beautiful cherry trees lined the promenade leading to the park.

Recently went to Seoul Horse Park and watched several races. My first time watching the ponies. I made sure to loose plenty of money so I wouldn't be tempted to make visits a regular thing. The place was packed with people, maybe 10000. There are 3 big tracks in Korea which all run their races 15 minutes apart. While you're waiting for the next race wherever you are you can also bet on the races taking place at the other two locations (Busan and someplace else).

BBQ (and Peace Signs)

2009-04-28T06:22:00.001-07:00

Post-baseball at a place in Seoul.

Peter, Sam, Anne, and HJ at another BBQ place in Gangnum.

Most Koreans, especially younger ones, will throw up a peace sign when they're getting their picture taken. Sam has perfected the move....Pete is still working on it.

Brian, Sam, and Peter post BBQ.

One of my favorite things about Korea, or at least about eating here, is BBQ. Every third restaurant here is a BBQ restaurant. In the middle of each table (see pictures above) is a gas or charcoal fired grill. You order some marinated meat or seafood, along with some vegetables, and grill it all up right in front of you. Some places help you cook it if you look lost, others leave you to your own devices. When everything is grilled to perfection, or crispy, depending on the cook, you take a piece or two of meet, along with some garlic, onions, and delicious mystery sauces, and wrap everything in a piece of lettuce. It's hard to shove the whole wrap into your mouth without looking like an animal but we tend to try anyway. The best thing about BBQ, other than the taste of the food, is the leisurely pace it encourages. The portions are small enough, and it takes long enough to cook, that you can easily spend 2 hours grilling/eating/grilling/eating (while drinking). Neither of the places pictured here is our local place. Between work and my apartment there is an "all you can eat" BBQ place where, for 8 won, you can eat as much BBQ as you'd like. Its a great deal even if you're not that hungry. We usually are.

Cherry Blossoms

2009-04-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

Friends Heather, Thomas, Peter, Liz, and Marshall on the way to view the annual cherry blossom festival.

People "picnicking" in what used to be a park near the cherry trees. The whole park, dozens of acres along Seoul's largest river (the Han) is being re-landscaped. These people were actually pretty lucky.....those little green shoots they're sitting on were better than the dirt most people found.

Part of the landscaping project. Cherry trees in the distance, along with, by chance, Korea's largest Christian church (the Yoido Full Gospel Church - about 800,000 members). The guy on his cell phone might not be working hard but most construction workers here never seem to stop. I've seen guys working on buildings at 10 pm on a Sunday night.

The crowds were incredible. Made appreciating the trees a little difficult.

Too many blossoms, or maybe soju bottles (soju is the Korean spirit of choice and seems to be appropriate at all hours of the day).

Every spring cherry blossoms arrive in Asia. In Seoul there are not nearly enough trees to go around. On a recent Saturday we went to the prime cherry blossom boulevard in all of Seoul. The whole street was closed off, maybe 5 lanes wide, and it was still hard to walk. Groups of people were camped out on any piece of ground they could find...eating lunch and taking pictures of their friends in front of the trees. The blossoms were great but the people watching was much better. This last picture was not the only person we found passed out, just the best.

More Baseball

2009-04-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

Most of the baseball crew.

Lighting a sparkler (passed out to everyone in the stadium).

My friend Marshall with a mini Heroes fan. The stadium is separated into home and away sections....we were surround by Heroes fans. Sadly we chose wrong....the Heroes got crushed by LG (the team, not big TVs).

After the game my friends Liz and Thomas hopped over the fence and ran from 3rd base into home. An act that probably would have resulted in hefty fines in the US but just got them escorted out of the stadium.

The cheerleaders were great but I took so many pictures at the game I couldn't limit those I uploaded to 5. These are the best of the remaining.

Korean Cheerleaders

2009-04-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

Female chugging contest in the 7th inning. The winner got more beer.

I went to my first Korean baseball game last weekend. It was a great time. The most hours I have spent sitting in the sun since I've been here. It was good baseball but the players had to compete with the cheerleaders. Korean baseball teams don't just have mascots, they also have a male cheerleader and his four skirted assistants. The whole set up was pretty hilarious.

Agro Fish Market

2009-04-13T06:07:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest landmarks in town is the Agro-Fishery Market. A huge blue-roofed complex a couple minutes from school. I've been looking at it for weeks and finally walked over one morning last week with my friend Peter. Of the two main buildings, one is dedicated to fruit and vegetables and the other to fish. We walked out of the latter a little nauseous and with soggy shoes. Both reminded me of the big market in Florence I visited as a kid with my family. Agro caters to commercial buyers but anyone can walk in and pick up a couple pieces of fruit, or an octopus. I bought some green and red peppers. They went into some very good fajitas.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

2009-03-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

I went on a great late-afternoon trip a couple weekends ago with friends from school. The destination was Gyeongbokgung Palace, the home of Korean royalty and the seat of government from 1394 off and on until the Japanese took control of Korea in the early 1900's. The Koreans have spent the last several decades reconstructing the entire complex to its original splendor. Its a shame that few of the original buildings remain (the Japanese destroyed all but 10) but their pristine condition makes it feel like you're seeing the palace as it was 150 years ago. The complex is near the center of Seoul, with several seemingly out of place 30-story buildings a few blocks away.

Local Hike & View of Anyang

2009-03-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Its hard to overstate the difference between Korean and English. I thought I was bad at Spanish...I know for certain I'm bad at Korean. Luckily most Koreans don't expect you to be any good at it. I started Korean classes a couple weeks ago and have learned a lot. Its possible that I'll be able to have a conversation with a cabbie before I leave, but not definite. The alphabet is systematic and easy to learn but with an ear for language as bad as mine its hard to get over the initial "what is this". Surprisingly the most frustrating result of my difficulty with the language has been my inability to remember the names of places I've been and the ones I want to visit. I've seen a lot of great spots in Seoul since I've been here, but would have a hard time remembering the names of 1/3 of them. They're so alien they go in one ear and out the other. I end up describing places using their landmarks, which isn't very effective (Korean architecture is pretty boring and homogenous).

The pictures above are from an amazing hike a fellow teacher took me on last Friday. I was amazed to find a bit of nature so close to my apartment. When I travel out of my little town all I see are building-lined streets or the inside of a subway tube. I forget that I'm in a hilly little pocket of greater Seoul. The first 3 shots are the view from the hike's peak. My building is amongst the tall white ones in the foreground of picture #2. Seoul is beyond the mountains and to the right. Hopefully you can see what I mean when I say Korean architecture is a little boring. I've recently learned that the pictures show Anyang, and that Pyeongchon (what I've referred to as my neighborhood) is really just a section of Anyang...........I'm still learning my way around (see paragraph above).

My Apartment Building

2009-03-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hopefully the most unexciting post I'll ever have (pictures of my boring building). The only slightly interesting thing I can say about these two pictures is that Korea is the most trusting place I've ever been in. Can't really tell from the picture but my mailbox (one of the dozens of metal flaps to the right, just inside the door) is unlocked, like all the other mailboxes in my building. People routinely leave things unlocked here. My friend Peter just bought a motorcycle (don't worry mom...not asking for lessons) and he leaves it unlocked on the sidewalk in front of his building, along with the bikes of several others. The other instance where I have been struck by the trusting nature of Koreans is on the subway. The cars have overhead racks, just like the Metro North or LIRR cars do. People walk on, put their briefcase/backpack/purse up on the rack and then find the nearest seat. They aren't that far away from whatever is they stashed, but after spending a significant amount of time on the nyc subway, the non-chalance of ignoring your valuables while surrounded by stragners, is striking, and great.

Dinner That Fights Back

2009-03-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

Last week my friends Thomas and Heather took myself and two of the other new teachers out to an elaborate octopus dinner at the local seafood place. Elaborate in diversity and amount, not price (the meal was probably $8 US per person). The main attraction was the octopus, served extremely fresh. The waitress put down the squirming plate minutes after plucking the unlucky creature from its tank. Like chickens octopus, or at least their tentacles, have some fight in them after they're dead. For at least 20 minutes the pieces were moving around and sucking onto the plate so hard we could barely pick one up (see video below). The texture wasn't great but fortunately it didn't taste like much, especially after a generous dunk in the accompanying sauce. The other plates were great...tempura sushi, fish soup, grilled fish, shrimp, and lots of others that I'm forgetting. Felt a little touristy taking pictures in this local restaurant but I don't think I'll be eating octopus again anytime soon.

Main Street Pyeongchon

2009-03-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is the main street of my little part of Seoul. Work is just off it, my apartment building is right on it, commute is 4 minutes. In the last picture I'm standing on a pedestrian overpass over the one big road that bisects main street. I call it main street because I have no idea what the street is actually called. Something I should probably figure out. A big grocery store right across the street serves as the local landmark. Especially useful when trying to communicate with cab drivers at the end of the night. The metro stops running at 12:30 and doesn't start up again until 6:00. Unless we want to have a particularly late night my friends and I usually cab it home at the end of Friday and Saturday nights.

Class

2009-03-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

This post would be a lot better if I had a picture of my students (I'll take some soon) but for now I thought I'd share one of the more hilarious lessons I've had to teach in my 5 weeks of work. Every speaking level has at least 3 books (homework, exercise book, reading book). Our company is big enough to develop its own curriculum, some of which is easy to teach and as entertaining as can be expected. Some of it is incredibly quirky and poorly edited. Sometimes this is good....I can ask the kids to recognize and point out errors in their book...though this can be embarrassing when there are several in a row. For me the most entertaining moment comes when I see what the topic of the day's reading is. Their reading books are of course mainly designed to teach English (pronunciation, vocab, punctuation) but they often supply a decent dose of American culture. My favorite reading topic so far has been "Jeans". I had fun explaining to the kids who Levis Strauss was, that my sister works for them in San Francisco, and that I was in fact wearing a pair. The really good part came when I started to actually read the story. I'll quote the best part below. Listening to my serious Korean students read incongruous and out of date stories like this one is often the most comedic part of my day.

A Fashion Phenomenon

It was about half past seven on a cool morning in 1970. About 200 people were standing in line, waiting for the ticket office to open. Every minute, more people joined the line. They all wanted to buy tickets for the next Rolling Stones concert. They were all Stones fans, and lots of them were wearing the same kind of clothes. Nearly every one of them was wearing blue jeans.

This scene was repeated many times over the next three decades. By the late 1960s, blue jeans had become the uniform of young people in many parts of the world. Since then the bands and pop groups have changed, but the uniform has stayed the same. Today, young people stand in line to buy tickets for Destiny's Child, Ricky Martin, and Blur. But they are still wearing jeans. Most people under sixty years old have at least one pair of jeans in their closet.

Jeans eventually became so popular that fashion designers started to make them. If a nineteenth-century coal miner went into a jeans store today, he would be amazed at the range of styles. He could choose loose or tight jeans. He could choose straight legs or flares. He could also choose from blue, black or white jeans. People used to buy jeans because they were practical. Today they are an essential fashion item!

Avalon Building

2009-03-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the outside of my school building and the school playground across the street. This building is one of many Avalon campuses. I work on the 4th floor along with 14 other foreign teachers (Americans, Canadians, Australians, Kiwis). Friends work at a middle school and high school campus on the 5th and 6th floor. Played a great game of pick up frisbee with 3 friends from work Tuesday on this field. We had to wait for recess to end, jumping over the fence as soon as the bell rang. Half a dozen little kids walked to class backwards so they could watch us running down long throws. Frisbee is a big sport here. My friend Thomas plays in an extremely competitive league and is traveling to the "Dream Cup" in Japan this weekend to play against 80 other international teams.

Wa Bar

2009-03-04T06:06:00.001-08:00

There are a couple of bars along the main street that defines my little neighborhood. I've actually only been to one, a place called Wa Bar, pictured above. You can find a teacher from my school there most nights, and often more than a couple. Cheap drafts are 2,500 won....about $1.50. Plenty of foreign beers if you're willing to pay for them (I'm usually not). Its great to have a local place to head to. Tipping doesn't exist in Korea, which has been weird on a number of occasions, but is most noticeable when I walk away from the bar, ladden with beers, without leaving anything more than exact change behind.

End of the Week at Avalon

2009-03-04T05:41:00.000-08:00

Last Friday all the teachers at my school (foreigners like myself and our Korean co-teachers) celebrated the end of our winter semester, the departure of a foreign teacher, and the recent arrival of 4 new teachers (myself included). Lots of Pizza and Coke. The Coke tasted reassuringly familiar...the pizza was closer than I thought it would be. Corn is one of the most popular pizza toppings here, and though it goes well with pepperoni, green peppers, etc, I still laughed every time I looked down and saw yellow kernels on my slice. My good friends Thomas (from CA) and Heather (from Toronto) are the ones running around. We're in the lobby of our school, Avalon. Ours is an elementary campus. Above us on the 5th and 6th floors are Avalon elementary and high school campuses.

Outdoor Market at Myeong-dong

2009-02-23T20:24:00.000-08:00

(Yellow) Blues Brothers

Video Games for toddlers. The country is obsessed.

Guys making dumplings. Delicious street food everywhere.

For Katie.

Lots of signage.

Pyeongchong

2009-02-23T19:54:00.000-08:00

My little corner of Seoul is called Pyeongchon, relatively close to the metro stop of the same name. It's a distinct neighborhood with one main commercial street. Not as dense as New York but at least as high. My apartment is on the 12th of 15 floors. It is a small enough place that I'm already pretty familiar with it, though lots and lots of restaurants still to try. Below is the view from my window. I'll take some pictures of the main street soon.

The Bedspread

2009-02-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

My school provides furnished housing, which is great. They also provide bedding, which I thought was great. I moved into my apartment last Monday afternoon with nothing on the bed. I was so relieved when the Korean from home office showed up at 11 pm that evening with my missing bedspread, pillow, etc. I tried not to laugh has he handed it all off to me (see below). I have since discovered that all the teachers who work for my school are given the same set. I haven't made a friend yet who doesn't sleep under violently pink flowers.

My Apartment

2009-02-23T19:29:00.000-08:00

Getting used to showering next to my washing machine, sink, and toilet. The upside: brushing my teeth in the shower.

Packing

2009-02-17T10:37:00.001-08:00

My room in Sonoma 24 hours before departure.